Bonum Certa Men Certa

How Long Can the EPO Bend the Rules Before the Avalanche of Invalid Software Patents?

The epidemic of patent trolls in Germany is becoming ever more visible

German troll



Summary: A 35 U.S.C. €§ 101/SCOTUS moment in Europe will likely squash loads of abstract European Patents granted by the EPO; shouldn't the EPO foresee this and immediately cease granting such obviously bogus patents, whose main beneficiary is a bunch of patent trolls?

THE European Patent Office (EPO) belatedly admits severe patent quality problems [1, 2, 3]. It has said nothing publicly, only internally, so surely António Campinos is aware (but chooses to keep silent, as usual).



We predict that in the coming days, maybe late on a Friday as usual, EPO management will push something into the media (or its site) to control/change the narrative; we also imagine, as we explained earlier this week, that one day a lot of abstract European Patents will perish in bulk (like many on biological processes a couple of years ago).

"We predict that in the coming days, maybe late on a Friday as usual, EPO management will push something into the media (or its site) to control/change the narrative..."Why has the EPO taken such a suicidal path? It's devaluing hundreds of thousands of existing European Patents and stakeholders won't be happy about it. Only lawyers benefit from this legal barbwire.

Charles Russell Speechlys LLP's Mary Bagnall, in a new and paid Lexology 'article' (self-promotional ads is what these sites boil down to), has just put out something titled "Brexit: Implications for Intellectual Property" [sic] -- an 'article' like many before it which covers UPC and other things lawyers want for litigation invoicing. They want as many lawsuits as possible and they worry that Brexit puts that at risk/peril.

"They want as many lawsuits as possible and they worry that Brexit puts that at risk/peril."Another law firm, Withers & Rogers, has just hijacked a publication to promote illegal software patents in Europe (under the guise of "AI"). Harry Strange and Stuart Latham, partner and patent attorney at Withers & Rogers, put out something titled "A guide to protecting AI and machine learning inventions" in so-called 'media' (marketing) and it's all about the EPO:

As well as there being evidence of more global patent filings, the AI and machine learning technologies featured in these applications have become increasingly sophisticated. To illustrate this, a recently published patent highlights technology capable of generating audio using a convolutional neural network. Preliminary examination of the patent carried out by the EPO indicates that the invention does indeed meet the described patentability criteria. The 'technical effect' produced by the patented invention is considered to be a reduction in the computational requirement to generate waveform data compared to existing methods. This should be reassuring for both innovators and practitioners, as it clearly shows that the guidelines are being followed by the examiners at the EPO.


These are all just algorithms. Why does the EPO still welcome patents on algorithms? Surely it knows that courts have repeatedly rejected this, citing the EPC. Surely it also knows what happened in 2005 in Parliament. Surely it can see that national patent policy have barred such patents. Why is the EPO actively promoting illegal patents under the guise of "CII" or "AI"? So frequently in fact, to the point of banality...

Yesterday the EPO wrote: "What are the best IP strategies when it comes to your computer-implemented inventions in #MedTech? Find out at this event..."

"Why is the EPO actively promoting illegal patents under the guise of "CII" or "AI"? So frequently in fact, to the point of banality..."This is the third such tweet in little over a week (the first one did not have the "CII" part, which was only included in the cited page).

These patents are definitely not benign; there's plenty of trolling with software patents in Germany. Some of this has been measured and it's a fast-growing trend. As recently as half a day ago we saw a report titled "Enforcement of German injunctions forces Huawei to take MPEG LA's AVC Patent Portfolio License" (MPEG-LA is technically a troll) and it makes Germany resemble the worst districts in the US. It's bad enough that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) granted something like a million or two software patents. Thankfully, owing to Alice and expiries few of these are worth anything anymore. There are some caveats, sure, but trolls mostly rely on subjective courts in particular districts (litigation venue does matter).

"It's understandable that people who make a living from litigation just want more and more and more patents."A couple of days ago we saw David Lisch at Watchtroll with the title "The Newest Patent ‘Rocket-Docket’: Waco, Texas" (around the centre of Texas, if not a tad to the east albeit not Eastern Texas or notorious EDTX/TXED). So maybe the trolls can be their new Branch Davidians? That would not vibe well with about 120,000 locals. Being a litigation capital won't do any good for the town's reputation.

It's understandable that people who make a living from litigation just want more and more and more patents. Consider Gene Quinn's "Mitigating ‘Justified Paranoia’ via Provisional Patent Applications" (at Watchtroll, same day as above) and loads of similarly-misleading calls for patenting, such as the above from Withers & Rogers. But it's malignant and corrosive to the real economy. Shouldn't Europe learn from the mistakes of the United States? Instead of repeating these? There's no lack of cautionary tales. Last night, for example, Unified Patents spoke of a rather infamous patent troll, Leigh Rothschild, who suffers a blow in the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) after an inter partes review (IPR). Josh Landau (CCIA) has also just brought up Blackbird (another notorious troll) in the context of the Federal Circuit's decision on Berkheimer.

"The EPO is mostly enabling trolls by granting such bogus patents, knowing that courts might never get around to scrutinising these.""These changes represent serious threats to the tools that have been developed to combat low-quality, invalid patents," he argued. "Those patents, as I wrote earlier this week, do more than threaten to take money out of the pockets of large companies. They also threaten the existence of small companies—the exact companies who most need the kind of quick, inexpensive processes for fighting a patent that Berkheimer deters."

Thankfully, however, a lot of patent trolls who rely on software patents are worthless and penniless now; some get disbanded. If they target small companies there's little chance of a day in court (to challenge the underlying patents or infringement thereof), so these patents must never exist in the first place. The EPO is mostly enabling trolls by granting such bogus patents, knowing that courts might never get around to scrutinising these. In the case of MPEG-LA, such patents get leveraged in bulk to make legal challenges extremely long and expensive.

Recent Techrights' Posts

The Media Helps Microsoft, Amazon and Others (GAFAM and Beyond) Lie About Mass Layoffs Amid Valuation Bubble
The media, instead of saying that there's an "AI bubble" crashing the economy might instead choose the narrative of "jobs replaced by AI"
Bad Tempered? You Might Have Just Given Away That You're Losing the Argument
Brett Wilson LLP is fully aware that it is being investigated
Lies Need to be Corrected
the Court never invited us
 
Go Watch Video About Librephone, Get Microsoft Ads
Very ethical company...
Campaign of Defamation Against the People Who Built NixOS (and Are Now Pushed Out From Their Own Project)
We've already grown familiar with - and resistant to - such tactics
Links 17/10/2025: Nestlé Crisis, Canada Post Versus 'Gig Economy' [sic] and Vista 11 Breaks Itself
Links for the day
Tux Machines Has Helped Separate Opinions/Analysis From News
In September 2023 we decided to split things apart and not repeat links in both sites
Tux Machines Has Improved Navigation of GNU/Linux and BSD News
Some more 'wiring' work
What a World Would Look Like If Everyone Used Free Software Only
Freedom is what matters, not "Open".
Richard Stallman (RMS) is a Target of Defamation Campaigns Because of His Views on Software (But Politics Are the Excuse for Defaming Him)
Here in this site we try to refrain from politics, except in Daily Links
End of Vista 10 and Rise of GNU/Linux as Client Side Operating System
It seems certain GNU/Linux will grow in popularity over time
Taking Stock of a Week's Worth of EPO Leaks
We remain committed to exposing EPO corruption as long as it keeps happening
Mathieu Parreaux claims FINMA knew since day one
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Calumny, Libel, Joerg Jaspert & debian-private untouchable cyberbullies
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 16, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 16, 2025
Techrights Turns 19 in 3 Weeks
coverage of suppressed topics and protecting all sources/whistleblowers
International E-Waste Day Same Day as End of Vista 10
message from Akira Urushibata
The EPO's Central Staff Committee Presents Evidence That Staff Compensation Lowered While the Office Increases Income by Illegally Granting Invalid Patents
These people become millionaires by doing illegal things
Second or Third Wave of Microsoft Mass Layoffs in October 2025, This Time Portugal
Those are just the ones we know about, there may be several more
'Help Net Security' (helpnetsecurity.com) May Have Become a Slopfarm as Well
Zeljka Zorz, Editor-in-Chief at Help Net Security, was reported to us
Gemini Links 17/10/2025: Rant About Network Solutions, Strange Anomaly on Lagrange
Links for the day
EPO Staff Representation Lacks Social Dialogue With Relevant Management, Controversial and Sometimes Illegal Policies Implemented Without Necessary Input
"In this open letter, the CSC requests that the President submits an agenda item in the next available General Consultative Committee (GCC) meeting on setting up regular meetings between the CSC and the higher management of DG1."
Links 16/10/2025: Political Leftovers and Gemini Protocol Links
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Guardian Digital (linuxsecurity.com), Slashdot, Google News, and More
Maybe one day, once the bubble pops completely, Google News will just outright delist all slopfarms
Lufthansa Modern Slavery, Joerg Jaspert (ganneff) & Debian NSB Softwareentwicklung charade
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 16/10/2025: US Starting More Trade Wars With China, CIA War on Venezuela
Links for the day
SUSE Blog is Still LLM Slop, Marketing Manager at SUSE Cannot Write
Would you buy from a company or seek support from a company that cannot even write (or fakes writing)?
Pretend You're Not Dead: Microsoft Spent Almost Two Decades Rebranding Things as "Cloud, Then "AI", Now "XBox" and "Quantum"
"AI" bubble pops, Microsoft harping about "quantum" already
IBM Allegedly Found New Tricks for Silent Layoffs: LPI, Then MIS (Not PIP)
Remember that "Red Hat layoffs" won't be reported after the bluewashing
Links 16/10/2025: Red Lines and Feeding of Microsoft Trolls
Links for the day
MIT as a Propaganda Mill of GAFAM, Paid by GAFAM
"the news" today
Links 16/10/2025: Lies Euphemised as ‘Dueling Versions of Reality’ and Microsoft "Open" "Hey Hi" Resorts to Porn as No Business Model Was Found
Links for the day
The Local Staff Committee Munich (Representation of the EPO's Staff) Explains When Cluster of Pregnancies May Result in Reduced Pay
"...even one week of part-time working is sufficient to reduce the salary you perceive during the entirety of your maternity leave."
Another Black Eye for 'Secure Boot', Microsoft Media Tries to Blame "Linux"
It enables Microsoft to remotely control computers, even computers that don't run Windows and never had any Microsoft software installed
Slopwatch: UbuntuPIT, linuxsecurity.com, and Various Slopfarms in Google News Attacking "Linux"
A new survey of the Web said that the majority of the Web is now slop (that's being said in the news this week)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 15, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Links 16/10/2025: Increased Use of Social Control Media Surveillance in US, French Rage Over Pensions
Links for the day
Links 15/10/2025: Qantas Airways Loses Control of Sensitive Data and Software Patents Are Being Thrown Out
Links for the day
Vista 10 is 'Dead', Here's Why People Should Move to GNU/Linux (or the BSDs)
Today we try to make an outline of reasons move away from Windows to GNU/Linux
Our Sites Continue to Improve
LLM slop has had no noticeable impact on us
Gemini Links 15/10/2025: Neovim, Helix Compared and Gemlog.blue Now Closed
Links for the day
Links 15/10/2025: Mass Layoffs at Amazon, OneDrive Spyware Revved Up, More 'Gen Z Protests'
Links for the day
The EPO's Staff Engagement Survey 2025 is Already Tainted by Intimidation by EPO Management (Trying to Influence Outcomes by Scaring Genuine, Honest Critics)
"[W]e have received reports that, following the previous survey, teams with negative responses were reproached or questioned about their answers..."
The DDoS Attacks by Microsoft's Scam Altman and Other Slop Charlatans and Frauds is Hurting the FSF, Delinking It From Copyleft Projects
This impacts a lot more than access to the licences
Microsoft Scanning Faces in Photos People Upload to Microsoft (Even Unconsciously), Slashdot Turns Report About It Into "Microsoft Sez" (Says)
Or "let's repeat the lies from a PR person/Microsoft's publicist"
[Teaser] Angel Aledo Lopez the Manipulator (Nepotism, Poll Rigging, and Other EPO Corruption)
We'll discuss this later today or tomorrow, based on internal EPO material
Attacks on Techrights Are Only Making Techrights Bigger and Even More Popular
A week ago they offered to settle with us
Epic Metaphor for End of IBM: "The IBM Demolition is Down to the Last Shards!"
Nothing lasts forever
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 14, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Proprietary and DRM Prisons Spiralling Down the Sinkhole? Not Just Yet.
Let's hope that more people will flee to GNU/Linux
The European Patent Office (EPO), the Second-Largest Institution in Europe, is Cracking Down on Recreational Activities
Without AMICALE activities, and as staff already says it's pressured to work more for less, how can the EPO recruit bright people?
Transparency: FSFE financial reports exclude speaker fees and expenses
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock